Muskegon preparing for state championship football game against Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice

Shane Fairfield is taking Muskegon to the state championship game for the first time as a head coach. (Ken Stevens|MLive.com)

MUSKEGON – There’s a lot of preparation going into Muskegon’s trip to Ford Field for Friday’s state championship football game.

There are media interviews, travel plans and hotel reservations to complete along with a stack of paper work piled high on the desk of head coach Shane Fairfield.

That doesn’t even take into account time for film study, devising a game plan and practice.

This is Fairfield's first trip to the state finals as a head coach, but he was the Big Reds' defensive coordinator under Tony Annese in 2008 and also played in the 1986 state finals for Muskegon Catholic Central, so he's been a part of the hoopla before.

The Big Reds took advantage of the warm weather to practice outside Monday at Hackley Stadium, but they also went indoors and had a workout scheduled in the pool room to help simulate conditions for Ford Field.

Fairfield said the plans is for the Big Reds to have a workout indoor at Shoreline Soccer on Tuesday and at Grand Valley State University’s indoor practice facility on Wednesday and Thursday before heading down to the Detroit area.

“We’ve always been a firm believer and Mike Holmes (the coach at Muskegon Catholic Central) has been a firm believer of getting the kids indoors as fast as you can,” Fairfield said.

Fairfield said not only will players have to adjust to the heat of playing indoors, but also the lighting and other changes that go along with it.

After Thursday’s workout at GVSU, the plan is for the team to bus to the Detroit area and have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner together. The team will stay in a hotel Thursday night and get up ready to go for Friday’s game against Birmingham Brother Rice. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.